Truth

Sometimes--if not always--it's easier not knowing the truth. It's easier going through life ignoring the truth and fooling oneself that everything's just wonderful.

One of many things that has caused me to travel down this road of seeking to know the truth, is seeing Blood Diamond today. It is an excellent movie (even though Leonardo DiCaprio's South African accent isn't consistent throughout the movie... But most non-South Africans will most likely not pick that up or be bothered by the inconsistencies.)

The movie made me feel very much like when I first saw Cry Freedom as an exchange student in New York... It saddened me immensely at that time that the bad guys in the movie spoke lines that possibly no-one but I understood as they were in Afrikaans, my mother tongue. Similarly, I do hope that the old man's line in the movie about oil (see the movie, you'll understand) would sadden Americans.

What does one do with knowledge such as that gained from a movie like Blood Diamond? I can certainly hope that it would affect consumers' behavior when it comes to purchasing the ring of their dreams. And beyond that, I don only hope that people will seek to learn more about child soldiers in other countries such as Uganda.

"If we refuse to embrace the truth," a friend recently said, "we are rejecting Jesus. He said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.'" (John 14:6)

How can we know the truth and refuse the embrace it, yet say we believe in Jesus? Granted, Jesus wasn't talking about how one South African company controlled the diamond supply of the world and financing wars in order to keep the supply down. But I truly believe that His words do pertain to our social responsibilities, how we shop, what we speak out about.

As for me? Someday, if a man would decide to present me with a ring, I'd not want there to be a diamond in the setting.

I'll get off my soap box now.

*****
Tomorrow is Sunday. I'll be doing a 5-minute presentation in all four church services. How does one summarize a year's experience in 5 minutes? I can but pray that God would speak through me and touch lives with the knowledge of what He is doing in Africa.